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Performance of a Self-Build Rammed Earth House in a High Seismic Zone of

Mexico

Conference Paper · July 2017

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 3rd International Conference on
PROTECTION OF HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTIONS
Lisbon, Portugal, 12 – 15 July, 2017

PERFORMANCE OF A SELF-BUILD RAMMED EARTH HOUSE IN A

HIGH SEISMIC ZONE OF MEXICO

Adolfo Preciado1, Karla Ayala2, Saúl Torres2, Karla Villareal1, Nayar Gutiérrez1,
America Flores1 and Vanessa Hernandez1
1
Departamento del Hábitat y Desarrollo Urbano, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente
(ITESO). Periferico Sur Manuel Gómez Morin 8585, 45604 Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico.
e-mails: adolfopreciado@iteso.mx, pe685082@iteso.mx, nayar@iteso.mx, pe704997@iteso.mx,
IC111539@iteso.mx

2
Departamento de Arquitectura, Instituto Tecnológico de Colima (ITC). Avenida Tecnológico No. 1, 28976 Villa
de Álvarez, Colima, Mexico. e-mail: aylab.karla11@hotmail.com, webmaster@itcolima.edu.mx

Keywords: rammed earth houses; timber cover; self-build method; vertical capacity; seismic
performance

Abstract. The overall behavior of rammed earth is mainly governed by its low tensile strength, which is similar to the
presented by masonry structures, but even more brittle due to its poor mechanical properties. This brittle mechanism is also
very similar to the presented by adobe structures. This research focuses on the construction techniques and seismic
performance of self-build houses with rammed earth walls as a main construction system. For this purpose, a full-scale
vernacular house has been constructed in a high seismic area of Mexico to investigate the composite materials of rammed
earth, cover system, construction techniques and geometry. The construction of the full-scale model is also helpful to investigate
the vertical response induced by its own self-weight and cover system typology, as well as its seismic behavior due to the
constant seismicity of the selected zone. As a further research, it is prosed to investigate by experimental tests the vertical,
shear and bending capacity of rammed earth walls under earthquake conditions and compared against numerical simulations
with a suitable material model.

1 INTRODUCTION
Earthen structures made of rammed soil and adobe have been widely used for housing
purposes since the first generations that populated the earth due to its availability in nature and
the need for housing and refuge from animals and weathering (see Fig. 1). Although, this
construction material has no monetary cost, it is quite helpful for different housing
applications, especially for load-bearing walls and non-structural ones.

Figure 1: Earthen walls at the Jiayuguan fortress in China, built by the Ming Dynasty around 1372.
 Adolfo Preciado et al.

The overall behavior of this natural material is mainly governed by its low tensile strength,
which is similar to the presented by masonry structures, but even more brittle due to its poor
mechanical properties. This brittle mechanism is also very similar to the presented by adobe
structures, as observed in past earthquake (EQ) activity of considerable magnitude around the
world (Iran, Mexico, Peru, etc.). Due to the aforementioned, becomes of great importance to
investigate the performance and failure mechanisms of this brittle material in order to protect
the existing earthen structures against sudden brittle collapses that may induce uncountable
fatalities.
This research focuses on the axial compression and seismic performance of self-build houses
with rammed earth walls as the main construction system. For this purpose, a full-scale
vernacular house has been constructed in a high seismic area of Mexico to investigate the
composite materials of rammed earth, cover system, construction techniques and geometry. The
construction of the full-scale model is also helpful to investigate the vertical response induced
by its own self-weight and cover system typology, as well as its seismic behavior due to the
constant seismicity of the selected zone.

2 RAMMED EARTH WALLS AS A CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM

Rammed earth is one of the oldest construction techniques due to the availability of natural
materials. This is a simple construction technique involving a wooden or metal formwork for
pouring the soil mix and a rammer for soil compaction. The stress applied to the soil causes a
densification due to the displaced air from the pores, forming a solid element to form a wall
that may be used as a load-bearing element or to define an architectonic space. Compacted earth
walls may present different thicknesses ranging from 30 to 60 cm depending of the height of
the wall and roof system.
Several cultures around the world have used different techniques regarding soil and ways of
mixing. For instance, in Mexico it was commonly used soils with different granularity in
combination with clay and other components to enhance the mix such as blood of animals,
fibers of vegetation, nopal extract and so on. This aimed to reduce the contraction of the material
generated by drying, and to enhance its resistance to weathering, especially against the
transmitted humidity by rain infiltration. In some cases, it was added to the structural elements
clay pots to reduce the weight of the constructed wall or cover system. Earthen structures such
as adobe were more popular in Mexico than rammed earth. Rammed earth walls were more
used in the northwest part of Mexico, close of the nowadays border (e.g. California, Arizona
and New Mexico).

Figure 2: Construction process of rammed earth walls [1].

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 Adolfo Preciado et al.

One of the main advantages of the use of rammed earth structures is the easy and reduced
economical cost due to the needed materials are available on site to construct a refuge or house.
Moreover, rammed earth is a sustainable and renewable natural material helpful to regulate the
interior temperature and air humidity by its excellent bioclimatic properties. It is also helpful
for the self-build of housing without the need of qualified workers, nor the use of energy and
expensive conventional materials like confined masonry, reinforced concrete, steel and so on.
The walls are constructed on site and the technique consists on pouring the soil into the
wooden/metal formwork and then compacted in layers about one-third of the total height with
the use of a wooden/metal rammer until forming the desired element (see Fig. 2). The
rectangular formwork serves to contain the compacted earthen element and to keep it vertically.
Once, the segment of the wall is formed, the formwork is then removed and installed to form
the next one.
The recommended soil mix for rammed earth walls is a combination of sand, gravel, silt and
clay mixed with water. [2] affirms that the size distribution testing by sieving and sedimentation
testing has become an acceptable practice for appraisal of soil for rammed earth. However, the
influence of variation in grading on the physical characteristics of rammed earth, including both
strength and durability remains unclear. The ideal soil consists of a good mix of different sizes
of granularity, from clay (about 10-40%) to silt (10-40%) to sand (35-65%) and even very fine
gravel [3]. [4] affirms that different proposals tend to converge towards a 30-70% balance
between clay/silt and sand proportions (e.g. [5,6]). Regarding the optimum moisture content of
the mix, [7] and [8] affirm that for rammed earth production the moisture content should never
be less than 3% below the optimum or 5% above according to the New Zealand Standard (NZS
4298: 1998 w1x). The optimum water content is about 9.5-11.0%, resulting in a dry density
about 20 kN/m3 [9].
As aforementioned, the construction of monolithic rammed earth walls houses is developed
by using natural materials located in the surroundings with the main advantage of having no
economical cost and of easy access, with no need of qualified workers and nor special tools.
However, one of the main drawbacks of earthen constructions is the weathering damage on the
walls, which induces a weakening of the soil particles and erosion by the sun and wind. The
weathering damage is also presented at the base of the building by the capillarity effect induced
by the saturated ground to the building´s base (Fig. 3a). Moreover, it is needed a heavy and
effortful process to construct the monolithic walls, involving time and several persons to form
a partial wall. Another main drawback of this material is the lack of integrity in case of shaking
like the induced by an EQ, generating a detachment between elements and complex brittle
failure mechanisms in-plane and out-of-plane that may cause human casualties.
In the following sections, the main mechanical properties of rammed earth walls are
described, as well as its performance and failure mechanisms when subjected to static vertical
loading and in case of lateral loading induced by EQ motion.

3 SEISMIC PERFORMANCE AND FAILURE MODES OF RAMMED EARTH

STRUCTURES
As previously, mentioned, earthen structures do not present a structural integrity between
elements, which means that the different walls behave as an isostatic system, which only
depends on the equilibrium provided by its own-weight and contact with other elements. In case
that the equilibrium is lost, the walls are disconnected from each other and may become strongly
vulnerable to fail by instability in plane or out-of-plane depending on the direction of the inertia
forces. The disconnection between elements is due to the lack of good connectivity induced by
the poor intrinsic mechanical properties of earthen structures.

3
 Adolfo Preciado et al.

(a) (b)
Figure 3: Common damages in rammed earth walls; (a) erosion of the base by weathering and (b)
vertical cracking in corners and body [10,11].

The main mechanical property affecting the overall resistance of this type of structures is the
tensile and shear strength, which are almost zero. Conversely, the compressive strength is
relatively acceptable, but reduced to withstand lightweight roof systems, commonly of timber
and fired clay tiles. The zero tensile strength of rammed earth walls and adobe structures is
similar to the presented by masonry. The lateral inertia forces induce a state of horizontal
stresses at the poor connections between walls, and due to the no tensile strength, the material
cracks and the damage propagation finishes by the formation of a vertical crack (see Fig. 3b)
causing the collapse of the structural element.

3.1 Main mechanical properties of adobe and rammed earth

The following paragraphs summarize a state of the art on the main mechanical properties of
earthen structures such as adobe and rammed earth. The mechanical properties may slightly
vary from adobe to rammed earth in terms of density, E modulus and strengths as described in
the following lines. Shear modulus and damping characteristics of adobe depend on the density,
final water content, size of test specimens and confining pressure [12]. Therefore, it is
preferable to determine the necessary material constants for the constitutive relations based on
the element tests conducted at the almost same density and other conditions. However, it is very
difficult to make specimens of similar material conditions as in real structures [13].
Regarding the dry density of rammed earth, [4] affirms that this property depends on soil
type, moisture content and compaction stress and it may vary from 1700 kg/m3 to 2200 kg/m3
according to several research works (e.g. [14,15,16]). [17] affirm that the volumetric weight of
adobe and rammed earth is about 1800 kg/cm2 and the main mechanical properties such as
compressive strength is in the range of 2-5 kg/cm2, shear strength about 0.5 kg/cm2 and E
modulus of 3000 kg/cm2.

3.2 In-plane performance and failure modes of adobe and rammed earth
As aforementioned, earthen structures are highly vulnerable to seismic loading due to the
lack of structural integrity between structural element and the poor mechanical properties of
this material, specifically the almost zero tensile strength and reduced compressive capacity.
These material and structural behavior deficiencies are accentuated in case of the presence of
lateral inertia forces induced by EQ. The shaking may induce in the plane or out-of-plane forces
that generate complex failure mechanisms with reduced energy dissipation. The typical in-plane
failures are related to a vertical disconnection between elements as shown in Figures 3b and 4a

4
 Adolfo Preciado et al.

by a concentration of tensile stresses at the pseudo-connection among walls. The most common
in-plane wall failure is due to shear stresses (diagonal tension), which is characterized by a
single or double diagonal cracking as shown in Figure 4. The diagonal tensile stresses are
presented along the length of the wall at about 45°, inducing the initial formation of cracks due
to the lack of resistance of this material against shear stresses. The single or double diagonal
crack propagates by increasing size and depth, until reaching the final failure mechanism of the
wall by a very fast reduction of its stiffness and strength (see Fig. 4a).

(a) (b)
Figure 4: Typical in-plane seismic failure modes of earthen structures; (a) combined diagonal and
vertical cracking on the front façade and (b) damage on the south façade [18].

Another possible failure mechanism is the induced by an exceedance of the compressive

strength of the material, represented by vertical cracking at the wall footing (Fig. 4b). Due to
the poor material properties of adobe and rammed earth, the seismic behavior is poor, with
almost no dissipation of the EQ energy. The poor seismic energy dissipation of these materials
induces brittle collapses which are catastrophic in case of the presence of medium to high
intensity EQs. The brittle collapse may also occur in case of seismic events of reduced intensity
due to the very high vulnerability of earthen structures to lateral loading.

3.3 Out-of-plane performance and failure modes of adobe and rammed earth
Conversely, to the in-plane failure, the out-of-plane loading induces a failure governed by
an overturning moment, which leads to the formation of a horizontal cracking along the bottom
part or upper part of the wall. The cracking rapidly propagates, ending with the complete wall
collapse in case of the bottom horizontal cracking and a partial collapse when the cracking
occurs at the upper part of the wall. This failure is quite common in masonry and earthen
structures subjected to EQ motion, but even more catastrophic in the last due to the lack of
structural integrity, poor energy dissipation and brittleness of the material (see Fig. 5a).
Another common failure mechanism induced by loading in perpendicular direction of the
plane of the walls is the cover collapse. This issue occurs when the cover supporting walls start
to vibrate and tend to open, inducing a state of instability to the non-rigid diaphragm cover as
shown in Figure 5b.

5
 Adolfo Preciado et al.

(a) (b)
Figure 5: Typical out-of-plane seismic failure modes of earthen structures; (a) collapse of façade
walls by overturning and (b) roof collapse into the interior part of the house [19].

Compared to heavy masonry covers of churches (vaulted systems and domes) and other
monumental building, normally the cover of earthen structures must be a lightweight system
due to the reduced compressive capability. The cover is normally made of timber and fired clay
tiles, carton or metallic sheets, becoming less harmful for persons in case of a roof collapse.
The non-rigid diaphragm characteristics of the lightweight roof may also transmit out-of-plane
inertia loading to the walls that may lead to partial or total collapses. Therefore, it is
recommended to avoid the non-rigid diaphragm behavior by inducing a state of structural
integrity by connecting the timber frames with the addition of cables to induce a monolithic
(one-piece) performance and to avoid localized inertia forces.

4 SEISMOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF COLIMA, MEXICO AND HISTORICAL

EARTHQUAKES
The seismicity of the coastal area of Mexico is complex due to its location at the so-named
fire belt which is located at the surroundings of the Pacific plate. This area is characterized by
the presence of very active volcanoes and high seismicity due to complex seismic areas. The
seismicity hazard of Mexico is divided into four major zones ranging from A to D, where A
represents low seismicity and D very high seismicity.

Figure 6: Main seismic zones of Mexico including Colima [20]

In the seismological context, the seismicity of Colima is categorized as seismic zone D (very
high) (see Fig. 6a), with the presence of harmful EQs along the history as presented in Table 1.
The seismic hazard at the adjoined region between Jalisco and Colima is generated by the

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interaction of three complex seismic areas: the Jalisco Block, the Colima Graben and the triple
point at the coastal area. At this complex area (also well known as a subduction zone), interact
major plates such as the Pacific and North American and two micro plates, the Cocos and
Rivera. At these complex areas have occurred most of the destructive EQs of large magnitude
(Mw between 7.5 and 8) as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Information about major occurred EQs in the regions of Jalisco and Colima [21,22,23].
Latitude Magnitude Intensity MMI at
No. Date Longitude W Comment
N Mw Colima
1 03.06.1932 19.80° 104.00° 8.0 VIII R and NA
2 18.06.1932 18.95° 104.42° 7.8 IX Replica of 1
3 15.04.1941 18.85° 102.94° 7.6 X C and NA
4 30.01.1973 18.39° 103.21° 7.6 VIII C and NA
5 09.10.1995 18.79° 104.47° 8.0 VII R and NA
6 21.01.2003 18.63° 104.13° 7.5 VIII C and NA
Plates involved during the EQ: R= Rivera; NA= North American; C= Cocos

The historical EQs have felt with different intensities in cities like Colima, Guadalajara and
Mexico, ranging from VII to X in the modified Mercalli intensity scale (MMIS). These large
intensities have generated strong damage to most of the building content and inhabitants. The
most recent destructive seismic events occurred in Colima were the Manzanillo EQ (Mw= 8)
in 1995 and Tecoman EQ in 2003 (Mw= 7.5), both causing uncountable structural collapses
and fatalities. Some of the most damaged structures were adobe houses located in the city center
of Colima and in the surroundings.

5 PERFORMANCE OF A SELF-BUILD REAL SCALE RAMMED EARTH HOUSE

IN COLIMA, MEXICO
In order to investigate the materials and construction techniques of rammed earth walls and
seismic performance; a real scale house was constructed in the high seismic area of Colima,
Mexico. The house has a square plan of 3.5 x 3.5m (12.25m2) and a wall thickness of 40cm
(Fig. 7b). The total height of walls is 1.90m and 2.64m including the cover system with
triangular timber roof (Fig. 7a). It is worth noting that the house has also openings for the main
door and windows (Fig. 7). The dimensions of the house are taken into account the relevant
literature and existing vernacular housing of adobe and compacted soil in the region.

(a) (b)
Figure 7: Rammed earth house model at a real scale (in meters) constructed in the high seismic area of
Colima, Mexico in 2005; (a) front façade and (b) plan view.

7
 Adolfo Preciado et al.

It is worth to mention that the construction process of the self-build house was started and
finished in summer 2005. A total of three persons were involved in all the stages of the
construction process, from planning to execution. Following sections are aimed at describing
the different involved processes in the construction of the rammed earth house such as rammer
tools elaboration and soil preparation, construction of the compacted soil walls and the
lightweight timber roof. Moreover, the final section describes the seismic performance of the
constructed house in qualitative terms by assessing the level of damage in a certain time period.

5.1 Rammer tools elaboration and soil preparation

As a start point, the rammer tools for soil compaction and the formwork are elaborated with
low cost materials. Both tools are made of reused wood and other materials such as used car oil
and a metallic pipe. The rammer is elaborated by combining a wooden block with the metallic
pipe. Afterwards, the rammer tool is covered with used motor oil for a better contact with the
humid soil in order to avoid sticking (Fig. 8a).

(a) (b)
Figure 8: Elaboration and preparation of tools for the construction of rammed earth walls; (a) rammer
made with a metallic pipe and a wooden block and (b) wooden formwork.

The formwork (0.40x0.50x0.93m) is also constructed with the use of reused wooden
laminates; including reused motor oil to facilitate the unmolding process when finishing one
rammed earth block and starting a new one (see Figs. 8b and 10b). The formwork has a front
and back door for allowing the construction of corner walls, overlappings and different
alignment patterns. The horizontal and vertical timber segments serve as lateral confinements
to avoid the deformation of the mold and for having walls of uniform thickness (Fig. 8b).

(a) (b)
Figure 9: Soil excavation and construction site for the self-build rammed earth house; (a) soil
transportation and selection and (b) excavation for the wall´s foundation.

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 Adolfo Preciado et al.

As a construction site, it was selected the facilities of the Technological Institute of Colima
due to the plenty of space to construct the rammed earth house. As recommended, we extracted
soil by means of excavation works with the use of backhoe loader. Soil extracted from
excavation is the most used in the construction of rammed earth walls due to its reduced amount
of organic material and for having a good mix of different sizes of granularity including clay,
silt, sand and fine gravel. Small rocks are also removed from the soil (Fig. 9a) and mixed with
water and dried straw in order to form a consistent mass. The dried straw helps the material to
improve its weathering protection and plasticity to avoid cracking by temperature changes.
The soil quality is qualitatively assessed by compacting by hand a 40mm ball, which is
dropped against the floor at a height of 1.30m to verify the level of plasticity. The ball broke
into only a few pieces, which is considered as a good soil for the construction of rammed earth
walls. The terrain is cleaned from vegetation and organic material by cutting a small layer with
the use of a metal shovel. The foundation is formed by excavating a ditch of 45cm in depth and
55cm wide to construct the rammed earth walls over it (Fig. 9b). Furthermore, rocks of reduced
size are located inside the ditch bottom and compacted with the use of the rammer tool.

5.2 Construction process of the rammed earth walls

The rammed earth blocks (thickness= 40cm; height= 50cm and length=93cm) are
constructed with the use of the formwork and rammer of Figure 8, in combination with the
formed mix between the selected soil, dried straw and water. The blocks follow an organized
pattern in order to form monolithic elements able to satisfactory transmit the vertical loading
induced by its self-weight including the cover system (Fig. 11).
At the corner´s wall base is located a set of reinforced steel wires (a rectangular base of
20x40cm) that go from the bottom to the top height of walls in order to serve as connectors
among walls and roof system (Fig. 10a). The steel wires increase the connectivity among
rammed earth walls at the corners, which is one of the brittle failure points in this vulnerable
type of constructions. Figure 10a also show a fresh block still inside the formwork. Figure 10b
illustrates the soil pouring and compacting process of the walls. It is worth noting the formed
openings among the compacted soil-blocks for the lateral windows and main door.

(a) (b)
Figure 10: Construction of the rammed earth walls: (a) location of a set of reinforced steel wires at the
wall´s corners and (b) construction of upper soil-blocks and formed openings.

In order to provide weathering protection and to avoid erosion, the walls are coated with a
plaster of 1.5cm thick made of fine soil and a small portion of Portland cement (about 3%) in
combination with water (Fig. 11b) to stabilize the mix. The same mix is used to form a paste
with the same mixed material and proportion, which serves to detail the door and windows

9
 Adolfo Preciado et al.

square in order to facilitate the installation of the frames. The interior part of the house was
cleaned and compacted with the use of the stabilized mix and rammer tool.

5.3 Construction process of the roof system

The construction process of the roof system (Fig. 11) is developed through four stages: (1)
location of the perimeter timber poles; (2) construction of triangular fired clay brick parapets;
(3) mesh made of timber elements and (4) fixing of corrugated laminates.

(a) (b)
Figure 11: Construction process of the roof system: (a) fixing of corrugated laminates and (b) general
view of the self-build rammed earth house.

In the first stage describing the construction process of the roof system, the timber poles
(10x10cm) are located in the perimeter of the house and fixed each other with the anchored
steel wires over the rammed earth walls at a height of 1.90. These perimeter beams have the
purpose of serving as lintels for the openings of windows and door. Moreover, to serve as a
support for the triangular masonry parapets in order to have enough angle for rain control,
bioclimatic and ventilation purposes. Both parapets have a 14 cm thickness in addition of a
1.5cm plaster made of stabilized refined soil on both sides (total thickness of 17cm). The
intermediate supports are made of the same material and have a rectangular shape of
30x30x50cm (see Figs. 7a and 11a). Over the parapets is located the timber joist mesh
(60x50cm) with a first layer of elements with 2.20m in length and a transversal section of 4x8cm
which are vertically located to support a second layer horizontally located to facilitate the fixing
of the corrugated laminate. In the perimeter, the timber mesh forms a cantilever of 40cm for
weathering control, especially to avoid the contact of the rain with the walls. Finally, the
corrugated carton sheets (1.20x0.65m) are located with and overlap of 20cm among them. The
laminates are fixed to the timber mesh with nails and reused metal bottle tops in order to protect
the holes from infiltration and detachment by wind. Moreover, this type of cover is
representative of self-build rammed earth houses.

5.4 Seismic performance

One of the main objectives related to the construction of the real scale rammed earth house
consists in assessing its seismic performance. As aforementioned, the real model was
constructed in Colima, Mexico, which is characterized for being a zone with high seismicity
and complex plate tectonics. The vernacular earthen house was constructed in 2005, just two
years after the main destructive Tecoman (40 km from Colima) EQ of Mw= 7.5, which was felt
in Colima and neighbor towns with an intensity of VIII (see Table 1).

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 Adolfo Preciado et al.

After 12 years of its construction (2005), the earthen house has survived minor and
intermediate EQs due to its proximity to the active volcano of Colima and several seismic
events of magnitude ranging from 4 to 6 in recent years. In qualitative terms, the seismic
performance of the house has been satisfactory due to the reduced weight of the cover, wall
thickness and anchorage system between walls and cover at the corners. The lack of
maintenance has been the most important factor after these twelve years; the structure presents
the decay of plasters due to weathering and the cover is damaged because it has been used as a
storehouse. In general terms, the walls remain with no structural damage of importance.

CONCLUSIONS
The overall behavior of rammed earth structures is mainly governed by its lack of integrity
and low tensile strength, which is similar to the presented by masonry structures, but even more
brittle due to its poor mechanical properties and heavy mass. These deficiencies are accentuated
in case of the presence of lateral inertia forces induced by EQ. The shaking may induce in the
plane or out-of-plane forces that generate complex failure mechanisms with reduced energy
dissipation. The typical in-plane failures are related to a vertical disconnection between
elements and to single or double diagonal cracking by shear stresses. The propagation of
damage may induce a final failure mechanism of the wall by a very fast reduction of its stiffness
and strength. Conversely, to the in-plane failure, the out-of-plane loading induces a failure
governed by an overturning moment, which leads to the formation of horizontal cracking along
the bottom part or upper part of the wall, ending with a brittle and sudden failure mode. The
correct understanding of the high seismic vulnerability of adobe and rammed earth prevents the
new construction of structures made of these materials in EQ prone areas, to avoid brittle
collapses and fatalities.
In order to investigate the axial compression and seismic performance of rammed earth
walls, a full-scale vernacular house has been constructed in a high seismic area of Mexico. The
constructed model was helpful to investigate the materials, cover system, vertical response
induced by self-weight and seismic performance due to the constant seismicity of Colima,
Mexico. The main advantages were the possibility to construct a house with natural and free
materials, which are also sustainable and with excellent bioclimatic properties. The main
drawback is the needed human effort to construct the monolithic walls, which is extreme,
involving plenty of time and several persons to form a wall segment. Moreover, the difficulty
to generate a structural integrity among walls, especially at the corners and the imminent high
vulnerability of earthen structures to fail brittle by its heavy mass and almost zero tensile
strength. After 12 years of its construction, the earthen house has presented a relatively good
behavior against minor to intermediate EQs. This is due to the reduced cover weight and good
anchorage with the walls, thickness of resistant elements and anchorage system between walls
and cover at the corners. The lack of maintenance has contributed to the fast deterioration of
the earthen house.
As a further research, it is proposed a detailed investigation by experimental tests regarding
the vertical, shear and bending capacity of rammed earth walls under EQ conditions. Moreover,
to compare the experimental results against numerical simulations including a suitable and
representative material model of earthen materials.

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Creek House, 2011
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